Chapter LI.

But seeing that we have answered to the best of our ability the charges brought by Celsus against the Jews and their doctrine, let us proceed to consider what follows, and to prove that it is no empty boast on our part when we make a profession of knowing the great God, and that we have not been led away by any juggling tricks1170    γοητείᾳ. of Moses (as Celsus imagines), or even of our own Saviour Jesus; but that for a good end we listen to the God who speaks in Moses, and have accepted Jesus, whom he testifies to be God, as the Son of God, in hope of receiving the best rewards if we regulate our lives according to His word.  And we shall willingly pass over what we have already stated by way of anticipation on the points, “whence we came and who is our leader, and what law proceeded from Him.”  And if Celsus would maintain that there is no difference between us and the Egyptians, who worship the goat, or the ram, or the crocodile, or the ox, or the river-horse, or the dog-faced baboon,1171    τὸν κυνοκέφαλον. or the cat, he can ascertain if it be so, and so may any other who thinks alike on the subject.  We, however, have to the best of our ability defended ourselves at great length in the preceding pages on the subject of the honour which we render to our Jesus, pointing out that we have found the better part;1172    ὅτι κρεῖττον εὕρομεν. and that in showing that the truth which is contained in the teaching of Jesus Christ is pure and unmixed with error, we are not commending ourselves, but our Teacher, to whom testimony was borne through many witnesses by the Supreme God and the prophetic writings among the Jews, and by the very clearness of the case itself, for it is demonstrated that He could not have accomplished such mighty works without the divine help.

Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν λέλεκται πρὸς τὸν Κέλσον κατηγοροῦντα Ἰουδαίων καὶ τοῦ λόγου αὐτῶν τὰ ἐκκείμενα, φέρε τὰ ἑξῆς ἐκθέμενοι παραστήσωμεν ὅτι οὔτε ἀλαζονευόμεθα ἐπαγγελλόμενοι εἰδέναι τὸν μέγαν θεὸν οὔτε γοητείᾳ, ὡς Κέλσος οἴεται, ὑπήχθημεν Μωϋσέως ἢ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ τέλει καὶ τοῦ ἐν Μωϋσεῖ θεοῦ ἀκούομεν καὶ τὸν μαρτυρούμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ θεὸν Ἰησοῦν ὡς υἱὸν θεοῦ παρεδεξάμεθα, τὰ ἄριστα ἐλπίζοντες, ἐπὰν κατὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ βιώσωμεν. Ἑκόντες δ' ὑπερβησόμεθα εἰπεῖν εἰς ἃ προλαβόντες ἐξεθέμεθα, διδάσκοντες πόθεν ἥκομεν καὶ τίνα ἀρχηγὸν ἔχομεν, καὶ τίς ὁ ἀπὸ τούτου νόμος. Κἂν βούληταί γε ἡμᾶς μηδὲν διαφέρειν τῶν τὸν τράγον ἢ τὸν κριὸν ἢ τὸν κροκόδειλον ἢ τὸν βοῦν ἢ τὸν ἵππον ποτάμιον ἢ τὸν κυνοκέφαλον ἢ αἴλουρον σεβόντων Αἰγυπτίων ὁ Κέλσος, αὐτὸς ἂν εἰδείη καὶ εἴ τις αὐτῷ περὶ τούτου ὁμοδοξεῖ. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅση δύναμις διὰ πολλῶν ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων περὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἡμῶν τιμῆς ἀπελογησάμεθα, δεικνύντες ὅτι κρεῖττον εὕρομεν· καὶ μόνοι ἡμεῖς τὸ καθαρῶς καὶ ἀμιγὲς πρὸς τὸ ψεῦδος ἀληθὲς ἐν τῇ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίᾳ ἀποφαι νόμενοι εἶναι οὐχ αὑτοὺς ἀλλὰ τὸν διδάσκαλον συνίσταμεν, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεοῦ διὰ πλειόνων μαρτυρηθέντα καὶ τῶν προφητικῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίοις λόγων καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ἐναργείας· δείκνυται γὰρ οὐκ ἀθεεὶ τὰ τηλικαῦτα δεδυνημένος.